'Game of Thrones' Review: "A Man Without Honor"

War is coming, but it's still a sea away! ‘Game of Thrones’ season 2 presses up against its seventh episode of the season, as Sansa (Sophie Turner) finds herself moving closer toward the horrible thought of bearing Joffrey's children, Ygritte (Rose Leslie) continues taunting Jon Snow through the North, Theon (Alfie Allen) searches for Rickon and Bran, and Daenerys finds herself in the middle of a deadly coup. Kings’ Landing erupts in riot, threatening the life of young Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), while Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) seizes control of Winterfell, and Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) makes a new friend up north of the wall.

Last week’s ‘Game of Thrones’ episode “The Old Gods and the New” saw Kings’ Landing erupting in riot, threatening the life of young Sansa, while Theon seized control of Winterfell, and Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) made a new friend up north of the wall, so what will the latest episode bring?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Game of Thrones’ season 2 episode “A Man Without Honor!”

Theon wakes to find Osha, Bran, Rickon and the loveable Hodor missing, but rather than calmly organize a search party, Theon beats one of his own entourage for insinuating he was to busy with Osha last night! They right out into the wilderness with hounds searching, and Theon assures Maester Luwin he neither has anything to fear from Robb Stark, nor will he hurt the boys when he finds them…much. Meanwhile out on the run, the boys wish they had taken more food, and recognize a local farm that would be friendly to them, but Bran doesn’t want to risk Theon taking it out on them.

Across the land, Jon Snow finds that he’s moved even closer to Ygritte in his sleep, not that she particularly minds. As much as she flirts, Jon insists that he has a duty as a member of the Night’s Watch, but she counters that the Wildlings were present in Westeros long before other men, meaning they shouldn’t answer for their actions in travelling between realms, she shouldn’t be a prisoner, and nor should Jon be fighting them, having the blood of the First Men in his veins.

Over at the spooky Castle Harrenhal, Tywin Lannister attempts to sniff out who might be dissident among his forces, that Amory Lodge would wind up dead in his chambers last week. Though its still not clear what, if anything Tywin knows of Arya’s identity, he and the young cup bearer hold a rather pleasant conversation on the legacy one leaves behind, and how educated she is with the war stories of old, including Aegon Targaryen, and his dragon assault on the castle. Arya seems to grow more and more cordial with Tywin, something he admonishes, but still seems to greatly respect her for.

Still traumatized by her assault last week, Sansa stops to thank The Hound for his actions in saving her, though The Hound fires back that he enjoys killing, as did Ned Stark, and she’ll be glad of his cruel and hateful nature when he’s the only thing standing between her and Joffrey. Meanwhile over in Qarth, Dany brushes off Daxos’ attempt to tell yet another story of his self-made worth and explanations of why he’d help her, given that all she cares about is the fate of her dragons. Her useless, infant dragons.

While Ygritte keeps tempting Jon Snow, Ser Alton Lannister brings the truthful reply of Queen Cersei to Robb’s terms of surrender , though Robb assures him they don’t harm messengers, and can lodge him in a cell with Jaime Lannister for now. That good ol’ Lady Tulisa drops by asking for a list of medical supplies when Robb next goes to The Crag, but wouldn’t you know it, that frisky devil decides she should go with! That’ll end well.

When Theon and his men finally reach the farm from earlier, the only evidence the find of the boys is young Rickon’s walnut shells, and while Luwin attempts to slow the search, Theon keeps going off the rails on a crazy train by insisting that he won’t be seen as a fool and a eunuch to his men. Once the shell are discovered however, he sends Luwin home, plotting something nefarious. Meanwhile, Dany rebukes Ser Jorah for getting too close, as he vows to find whoever killed her handmaidens and guards, taking her dragons.

Poor Jon snow just can’t catch a break, as Ygritte continues to torment him with the thought of offering herself to him, but the moment he lowers his guard she breaks free, and turns the tables by siding with a group of wildlings that have surrounded them . They’re not the only ones getting down and dirty, however, as Sansa wakes from dreams of last week’s near rape to find that she’s finally, ahem, bled her sheets, which she fears will mean its time to deliver an heir to Joffrey. Shae does her best to help cover it up, even threatening another handmaiden, but The Hound discovers the blood anyway. What, was he outside the door? Creepo.

Cersei does her best to mentally prepare Sansa for the ideas of woman and motherhood, offering womanly wisdom that a woman should only love her children. Robert was never there for Cersei, and though Jaime was, she doesn’t believe Joffrey will share that trait, so she should prepare for a sorrowful life lacking true love. And speaking of Jaime, the Kingslayer shares a pleasant conversation with his cousin over their mutual time spent as squires, and just when it seems like Jaime is opening up, he brutally beats his cousin to death, drawing the guard! He strangles the guard as well, finally securing a chance to escape. The things he does for love.

Jorah seeks out that crazy-veiled woman, who upon being assured that Jorah would never portray Dany again out of love, tells him that the thief of her dragons is with Dany presently. Daenerys herself is pleading with the Thirteen for aid in recovering her dragons, when suddenly Pyat Pree reveals he was the one who took them, and will show them if Daenerys returns with him to the House of the Undying! Jumping in, Daxos reveals that Pree did so on his orders, and that Qarth must change by crowning a King, himself of course. The Undying slit the throats of the rest of the Thirteen as Daxos proclaims himself the King of Qarth, and Daenerys and Jorah’s attempts to escape seem to be blocked by an apparently unkillable Pree, still insistent she come with him.

Catelyn Stark learns that Jaime Stark has been taken captive once more, though the men at the camp seem just about ready to kill him for having slain his guard, the son of one of Robb’s lieutenants. Cat orders he stand down, but the tension in the air is clear, and later that night she goes to visit Jaime to impress upon him the severity of his situation. Ever glib, Jaime simply cracks jokes and implies that being “a man without honor” is meaningless, given the moral ambiguity of being a knight. Particularly ired by his comments of Ned Stark betraying his honor by siring Jon Snow, Cat asks for a sword, to which Brienne happily obliges.

Back at Kings’ Landing, Cersei opens up to Tyrion as they learn that Stannis Baratheon’s massive fleet is approaching, and Joffrey has too little obedience in him to make for an effective ruler. It seems the cat’s out of the bag on her incest as well, as she freely admits to Tyrion th manner in which they attempted to justify their affair. Moved, Tyrion does his best to comfort his sister, reminding her that not all of the children she had with Jaime turned out to be monsters.

Speaking of monsters, Iron guards lead Maester Luwin to the courtyard where Theon shows Winterfell the price of disobedience, raising the horrifically burnt corpses of two young children. Gasp, Rickon and Bran?

A fairly transitional episode for 'Game of Thrones,' obviously meant to gear us up for the actual coming battles. Only three episodes remain of season 2, and while we're very interested to see where this House of the Undying story goes, there still doesn't feel like a lot of room for things to actually happen in the remainder of the season apart from a battle at Kings' Landing.

Still, if you think this was good, just wait until next week! Did you get your fill of sword-swingin’ ‘Game of Thrones’ action? What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of ‘Game of Thrones’ next effort “The Prince of Winterfell” on HBO!